Sanctuary-lamp



B. MULLER-THYM.

SANCTUARY LAMP.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-23,1918.

Patented Mar. 30, 1920.

INVENTOR bem'rz/d /%///W'-7% in.

BY Ana" NE! BERNARD MULLER-THY1VI, or KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

SANCTUARY-LAMP.

Application filed September 23, 1918.

ro all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BERNARD l\'lULLnu llli-iYM, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jack 5 son and Stateof lhlissouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in ("iJ: imnctuary-Lamps, t whlch the iollowlng 1s a speclfication.

This invention relates to sanctuary lamps,

l0 and my object is to produce an oil lamp hav- 15 this clmracterwherein provision is made tor feeding the wick upward autouuitically ata rate which will compensate for the relatively rapid consumption of thewick and slow consumption of the oil. More specili cally my object is toproduce a lamp of the class mentioned. in which a consumable wick asdistinguished from a non-consumable one,

moved uninterruptedly upward at a rate sul'licient to insure thepresence of a fresh part of the wick in condition for instant ignition,just above the level o'l. the oil. and thereby compensate with thegradual lo wering of the level of the oil. for tl" s shortening of thewick by the combustion maintained at its upper extremity.

With these objects in view the invention consists in certain novel anduseful features Off construction and combinations of parts ashereinafter described and claimed; and in order that it may be fullyunderstood reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1, is a central vertical section of a sanctuary lamp embodyingthe invention.

Fig. 2, is a horizontal section on the line lI1I of Fig. 1.

lln carrying out the invention an ordinary oil containing vessel 1 issupported as shown or in any other suitable manner in a hollow metalbase 2, said vessel. (littering from the usual type in that it isprovided with an opening in its bottom as at 3. A vertical tube 4-detachably engages the lower end of the vessel and communicatestherewith to through the opening thereof, a gasket 5 be- Specificationof Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 30, 1920.

Serial No. 255,358.

supportwhioh is hollow and open at the bottom, is provided with acentral opening 9 receiving the lower end of tube i, and a set screw 10is employed to secure the tube against downward movement. The support (5is provided with a bracket or shell? 11 for the support of a motor orclockwork 12 con ventionally illustrated, and a shaft '18 of said clockwork is provided with a flanged pinion 14: to project into tube 4:through an opening 15 therein and engage a rack bar 16 within said tube,the flanges ot the pinion serving to prevent lateral movement of therack bar. The rack bar is equipped at its upper end with a piston 17 formovement up and down within the tube and for prevent ing leakage of: theoil below the piston one or more packing rings 1'7 are provided.

The piston is provided in its upper end with a socket 18 for receivingthe lower end of a still consumable wick 19, which extends up throughthe opening in the bottom of the vessel 1 to a point slightly above thelevel of the oil therein. To prevent disengagement of the rack bar fromthe pinion, the former is provided with an antitt'riction rollerengaging the wall of tube 4 at the opposite side thereof from saidpinion.

With the parts in the positions shown in Fig. 1, that is with the vesselcontaining a full charge of oil as indicated by the dotted line near thetop of the vessel and the wick protruding slightly upward from the oil,the lamp is ready for operation by applying a match or taper to theupper end of the wick and starting the motor or clock work in operation.As the consumption oi the wick will be rapid as compared to theconsumption of the oil, the former will be fed upward by the clock workat an im perceptible speed, in fact the speed will be so slow that thepiston may not complete its upward movement to a point adj aeent thebottom oi the vessel for a period of several d ays, the clock work beingso geared that the piston shall complete its upward movement about thetime the consumption of the oil in the vessel is effected, and in thisconnection it may be stated that experience has shown that theconventional type oi vessel will hold sufficient vegetable oil tosupport combustion of: a wick for a period of about eight days. Ofcourse, by changing the pro portion of the parts and the quantity oi?oil and th ength of the wick, the lamp may be adapted for continuousoperation for a longer or a shorter period as desired. By thearrangement describedit will be obvious that a fresh portion of the wickmay be maintained above but in close proximity to the surface of the oiland hence insure continuous combustion in'the shape of a small fiameas'indieated at the top of the wick in the drawing, a very small flamebein desirablefor economic reasons. it will, of course, be apparent thatthe invention is susceptible of modification in various particularswithout departing from the principle of construction and mode ofoperation described, and that I reserve the right to make all changesfalling within the spirit .and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An oil holding vessel having an opening in the bottom, a verticaltube below the vessel and communicating with the said openlng thereof, astlff wick extending ver- 1 tically in said tube and vessel andprotruding above the level of the oil, and means within said tube forimparting upward movement to and sealing the tube at the lower end ofthe wick.

2. A sanctuary lamp comprising a vessel containing oil and an opening atthe bottom, a tube depending from and communicating at its upper endwith the opening in the vessel, a piston within said tube, means forimparting slow upward movement to the above the level of the oil in thevessel, driving means, and means for transmitting power from the drivingmeans to the piston to impart slow upward movement to the wick.

4. A sanctuary lamp comprising a vessel containing oil and provided withan opening at the bottom, a guide tube depending from the vessel andcommunicating with the same through the said opening thereof,

a piston within said tube, a wick resting on said piston and extendingup through the opening of the vessel to a point above the level of theoil therein, a rack bar depending from the piston within the tube, apinion engaging the rack bar, and automatic means for operating thepinion to effect slow upward movement of said wick.

5. A santuary lamp comprising an' oilcontaining vessel having a bottomopening, a tube depending from the vessel and communicating with saidopening, means slidable in said tube and forming a liquidtight partitiontherefor, and a stiff combustible wick extending within said vessel.and'down through the opening in the bottom thereof and resting on saidpartition within said tube.

6. A sanctuary lamp comprising an oilcontaining vessel having a bottomopening, a tube depending from the vessel and communicating with saidopening, a piston in said tube provided with a socket in its upper endand forming a liquid-tight partition for the tube, a stiff consumablewick extending within said vessel and through the opening thereof andfitting at its lower end in the socket of said piston, and automaticmeans for imparting slow upward movement to the piston to raise saidwick at a speed to insure maintenance of a fresh portion of the wickabove the level of the oil in the vessel regardless of the quantity ofsuch oil.

In testimony whereof I affix my si nature.

BERNARD MULLER-T YM.

